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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Raven

Today I lend my blog over to Miss Raven, fellow author and it's her birthday! She'll be letting you know about a giveaway at the end- Here she is:

Hi all, woo hoo, it's so nice to be here. I never ever
thought I'd be waving pom poms and announcing I'm two. Well I'm somewhat older
( no I'm not telling) but you know what I mean.

I tell you this writing lark is fantastic. I get to meet lots
of interesting people, and tell my kids that all the traveling DH and I do is
not only our gap year in two week chunks it's research! Not that they believe
me. I get the eye-rolling yeah, yeah, whatever looks.

Snigger

Am I bothered? No not really. I do use a lot of the places I
visit in my books, even if I disguise them. There's something great about
sitting on a deck over the Indian ocean and writing the view into a story. Mind
you it's not that bad where I live either. More and more I have Scotland in my
books. In fact my YA books (J.Lilley, available from www.lycaon press.com) are
all set in the Trossachs, in Scotland. A beautiful area, with lochs, glens, and
mountains. Perfect for a bit of shape shifting!

Mind you I love research be it hands on blush or via
the net, the library, chatting etcetera. It's so satisfying to sort out what's
needed to make a story spot on. Probably the one thing guaranteed to get me
riled is being told I haven't done my research. Okay, I've never committed
murder, or shifted into a Leopard, but you know what I mean. Yes we all make
mistakes, oh don't we ever. But I, and most other authors I know do our utmost to
get everything right. After all there's nothing more likely to draw you out of
a book by reading 'he headed south from London to Newcastle' or 'she rang him',
when the book is set in 1820! No I've never been guilty of those two, but I
have seen similar gaffes and gone er?

So dear readers (wow that's so good to say lol) Any mistakes
I make I like to know. But I like to know good things as well. Even now I
worry. Will they like it? will it work? Am I still getting it right?

Yep, I'm an author! High fives you all and dances around
the room

This time two years ago I was a nervous shivering excited wreck. I was almost a published
author.

Here I am two years on and in the same state—or very nearly.

If you'd've told me then, that now I’d still be writing,
still being published and have over fifty stories out there with my name on
them, I'd probably asked you where you got the magic mushrooms from.

However here I am, and yes I have and oh how fabulous it is.

Around three years ago, I was away from work, bored, sore
and wondering what on earth I could do other than read. Don't get me wrong, I
love reading, but I was rapidly running out of books.

Then someone suggested I went onto Facebook, and lo and
behold (sorry dramatic or what?)I discovered a writing competition, at which I
hasten to add I was rubbish. But through it I met a lot of other wannabe
authors and then, became part of my crit group UCW.

The rest as they say, is history.

When I started I had no idea how I wrote, or even if I
could. Let alone what. I've been oh so fortunate that my publisher has let me
try my voice out in more than one way.

Even though I started off writing Regency, which I love, I
had to try writing contemporary romance as well. And paranormal, m/m, menage,
YA—well you get the idea? I needed to know what I'm capable of. I still do for
that fact.

There's nothing like the thrill of having a character shout
in my ear and say write me, get on with it. So I do.

I've learned the hard way (I'm a member of the lone star
club) that not everyone will like what I write or the way I do it. But
thankfully that others will and do. Whichever, any comment means someone has
read one of my books. The one I cherish most, is a third hand heard (but
confirmed by the speaker only last week almost eighteen months on) that,
"have you heard? Raven writes, and her books
are disgusting." To which my answer was "Books plural? Then she's
read them all?"

To celebrate my birthday, I'm dotting all over the place for
a couple of weeks. For each blog I'm on (and sorry no list you'll just have to
keep your eyes open) I'm offering a mini swag bag plus an Ebook, for one person
who answers my question. As well I'll pick one commenter at random from all the
comments overall and send one of my print books (winners choice)

So what shall I ask? I'm going to be cruel and ask two
questions. How did I get my pen name? What was the name of my first hero?